The federal government on Thursday in Abuja cautioned Distribution Companies (DisCos) again against selling electricity meters to customers, saying procurement of meters is free of charge.

Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, gave the warning during the weekly State House ministerial briefing organised by the Presidential Media Team.

The minister blamed those he described as `touts’ and “kabu-kabu’’ people in the power sector as responsible for the reported selling of meters to electricity customers.

“You will always have these kinds of things – like somebody trying to short-change others; otherwise these meters are free; we said it a number of times.

“These are tools that will generate liquidity. How can we be selling something that will bring in money?

“It is the responsibility of the DISCOS and the government is seeing that they are not doing so.

“So, the government is stepping in and giving the DISCOS the meters to distribute for free.

“But there’ll always be `touts’ and `kabu-kabu’ and I think it’s the touts that are doing this kind of shoddy deal,’’ he said.

In February, the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) announced that it was reintroducing the Meter Assets Programme where customers will buy prepaid meters via accredited vendors. AEDC put the cost of the single phase unit and three-phase meter unit at N63,061.32 and N117,910.69 respectively.

But Mr Aliyu said accelerated procurement of four million meters for the second phase of the federal government’s mass metering programme is on-going, with critical focus on local manufacturers.

“Currently, close to one million meters have been rolled out under the first phase and accelerated procurement is on-going for the second phase of four million meters with critical focus on local manufacturers.

“This is aimed at providing jobs through the programme.

“The first phase generated 10,000 jobs in installation and assembly. We anticipate that the second phase contract will be awarded by the end of the second quarter of this year.

“There will be a third phase that will provide an additional two million meters, funded through the World Bank,” he added.

(NAN)